To pull an incomplete quote from some site on the internet (I'm guessing some old CARM garbage) to malign me is childish. What's the link?
see 54 above Dave
BTW - that list of 33 is found in other sources, such as “Emanuel Swedenborg: His Life & Writings” By William White.
Point me to an official Borg site that presents an authorized list Dave - I’ve searched many to no avail. But then considering that Borg’s writings are considered scripture as well you will need to document that Borg suddenly discovered that the other 33 books now have the “Internal Sense”.
BTW Dave, CARM does not have that particular quote on it.
Thanks for admiting he was WRONG to begin with.
It instills confidence in the REST of the story...
Do you think it is a wise thing to depend upon the teachings of a single man who "revised and extended his teachings" over nearly three decades? How can you know that you have finally wrapped your mind around a doctrinal point you studied in an early volume if you find out in a later one that he "revised" it and it no longer is true? See, that is the security we Christians have in the Bible - it is complete, it is comprehensive and it doesn't change. What is truth will always be the truth if it comes from the mind of Almighty God.
Certainly, there is a fuller and deeper understanding of God's truths as we grow in grace, but we need not fear that something has become outdated or was replaced by "newer" revelation which makes the first untrue. Even the truths of the Old Testament revealed by God through the Jewish people are still true. In fact, the revelation in the New Testament books shows a central theme woven all throughout the entire Bible and which finds its culmination in the person of Jesus Christ.
The problem I have with those who profess "new" revelation that supposedly supersedes the Divinely-inspired Scriptures is they only have their own words to prove it. Guys like Mohammed or Joseph Smith proclaimed that they had been visited by God or His messengers and they put forth their writings they say came from that experience, but NOBODY witnessed it happening. They set out to establish entirely NEW religions based only on their own testimonies. That they have been able to lead millions or more into accepting their word for it, demonstrates to me more about the gullibility of mankind than it does to the legitimacy of their message.
Did Swedenborg ever have any accompanying miracles to back up what he was saying? In the first century, Jesus and then His Apostles and disciples went around their part of the world converting souls to the Gospel by confirming signs and miracles. In Acts 2:22, Peter says:
“Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know."
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, Acts 19:11 says, because He was confirming the authority of Paul as an Apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul told the believers at Corinth that, "The things that mark an apostle--signs, wonders and miracles--were done among you with great perseverance." (II Corinthians 12:12) If you read the Old Testament prophets, what gave the people assurance that a prophet was truly speaking from God, was that what they prophesied came to pass. God does these things for our benefit because He knows how stubborn we can be.
So, you promote the teachings of a man who lived hundreds of years ago and you desire (sincerely, I believe) that his teachings be given a chance to touch people's hearts. The problem is that a lot of what he has said goes against what the Bible says. Those who have studied the Scriptures can see immediately that there are certain phrases and doctrines that sound "off" - they don't have the ring of truth to them. You are asking people to let go of what they have learned and believe and accept new doctrine that has nothing to verify it but a single man's dreams and visions and what he claimed they meant. I don't know your religious background, but I wonder what it was you saw in Swedenborg that caused you to devote yourself to his views and go out and convert others as well? How can you be sure that what he says is really true? A feeling? A sense? What makes you believe what he says about Jesus is more true than what Christians have believed for two thousand years? Thanks for answering these sincere questions.